The report in the Innsbrucker Nachrichten on January 5, 1939

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The report in the Innsbrucker Nachrichten on January 5, 1939. In anno newspaper online, https://anno.onb.ac.at/, (Access: December 25, 2025)

New Year's Greeters at Gauleiter Franz Hofer's in Innsbruck
On New Year's Day 1939, Mayor Heinz Bauer (Dipl. Ing.), Local Group Leader Dr. Mühlreiter, and the section leaders from Solbad Hall paid a visit to Gauleiter Hofer to convey their good wishes for 1939. – We see Gauleiter Hofer, Mayor Heinz Bauer (Ing.), and Local Group Leader Mühlreiter during the serenade by the Speckbachermusik. (Photo: Robert Graß, Solbad Hall)
Article with photo published on Thursday, January 5, 1939, in the Innsbrucker Nachrichten.

Historical Context: Propaganda and Hidden Resistance

The report in the Innsbrucker Nachrichten on January 5, 1939, is a classic example of Nazi self-portrayal. It stages the "New Year's visit" of Hall's mayor and local Nazi party functionaries to Gauleiter Hofer as a unified demonstration of loyalty from the local elite. Such reports aimed to create the impression of a fully coordinated, unresisting "Volksgemeinschaft" (national community) and to present the regime's power as natural and universally accepted.

The Other Side of the Coin: Resistance in Hall

This official propaganda surface completely concealed what was happening in secret: As early as 1938/39, various resistance groups were forming in Hall, working under constant threat of death against the Nazi regime.
·       The group around Dr. Viktor Schumacher & Anton Haller: They collected forbidden information, helped those being persecuted, organized false documents, and planned resistance actions.
·       Social-democratic/communist resistance around Heinz Ehrenreich-Thöni: This group emerged from the political underground of the pre-annexation ban period, distributed leaflets, and later networked with other circles.
·       Monarchist-legitimist circle around Count Bernhard Stolberg-Stolberg: His house on Bruckergasse served as a conspiratorial meeting point for regime opponents, who acted out of Christian and traditional convictions.
Why This Contrast is So Important
The newspaper article and the history of resistance exist in a fundamental tension:
1.     The coordinated press showed only the desired image of public consent.
2.     The real resistance had to operate in secrecy and remained invisible to the public – in order to survive.
3.     The publicly appearing officials (like Mayor Bauer in the article) did not represent the attitude of the entire population but acted within the coercive framework of the regime.
The quiet but determined work of these groups contributed significantly to Hall being liberated without a fight in May 1945 and reordered democratically. Dr. Viktor Schumacher was appointed mayor by the resistance even before the end of the war.
The article from 1939 is thus more than a historical curiosity. It is a key document that vividly illustrates the discrepancy between Nazi propaganda and lived civic courage in Hall.